


Cheiloproclitic

by pyrchance



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Drabble, Gen, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Reunion Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrchance/pseuds/pyrchance
Summary: Frank pierces his lip again.Gerard knows what it tastes like, is the thing.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way
Comments: 5
Kudos: 68





	Cheiloproclitic

**Author's Note:**

> Put this up on tumblr about a week ago, but sort of forgot to cross post it here.
> 
> This was for an anon prompt that asked for Frerard and Cheiloproclitic - Being attracted to someone’s lips.

Gerard knows what it tastes like, is the thing.

Gerard doesn’t kid himself. He knows he’s of a softer type. Big, impossible problems, the sort he can throw his whole body against, those he knows how to tackle. It’s the stack of little things—laundry, texting back, showering, oh god, _showering_ —that tend to bury him. Need someone to plan and then _replan_ an entire reunion tour in the midst of a pandemic? Sure. That’s fine. Gerard knows how to handle that.

Frank getting his lip pierced again after all these years?

Yeah, Gerard thinks he might be dying.

“It looks sick, right?” Frank is asking, voice sounding only a little far away on speaker phone.

Gerard makes a sound high in his throat. He’s staring down at Frank’s selfie sent to their group chat. Mikey and Ray have already spouted off their support. Gerard’s thumbs had been frozen over the screen for so long, he’d almost dropped his phone when it started ringing.

“Did it hurt?” Gerard asks. It’s not just one picture. Frank’s taken a veritable photoshoot, asking which one he should post, smiling and pouting and _smirking_ around that ring.

Gerard is going to have to sing on stage with that thing. Frank can barely remember to keep his mouth closed normally and now his mouth is going to be _shiny_ and Gerard is going to have to _sing on stage_ while Frank drools and spits all over that goddamn _shiny lip ring_.

“Nah,” says Frank, in response to to question Gerard has already forgotten about. “Not as bad as the first time, anyway. Do you remember how much I cried? It was so bad. I thought I was going to piss myself.”

Frank wheezes out his laughter. Gerard wonders if he can hear the metal click against his teeth when he does.

“I don’t remember,” he says.

“No, you wouldn’t forget this, trust me. I think I got snot on the chick who did it. I never went back to that shop.”

Gerard stretches his mind back. There are a lot of big moments that imprinted on the heart of his identity from those days, but the bulk are blurred with time. He tries to picture Frank the first time they’d ever met, back before the band, but the memory is all foggy, like his brain doesn’t want to admit there was ever a time before they had each other. This is a silly, selfish thought, Gerard knows. The type of thought that doesn’t want to admit there was a time that Gerard lost Frank even after he’d gotten him.

He shakes his head. “I think that was before my time,” he says.

“Huh,” Frank sounds about stumped by this as Gerard. “Well, trust me. I was embarrassing.”

“No, you?” teases Gerard.

“Fuck off,” Frank laughs.

Gerard might love that sound more than he cares to admit. He scrolls through the pictures again, lingering on one more distant shot Jamia must have taken. He wonders briefly what she thinks of it, before letting that thought go. He’s not the only one that must have missed it.

He wonders if she knows what Frank’s lips feel like when he’s singing though. If she’s ever felt them vibrate against her skin the way he has. If she’s ever gone deaf under the roar of the crowd trying to chase that noise.

“You don’t think it’s stupid, right?”

Gerard pulls himself out of his memories slowly, listening to the edge in Frank’s voice.

“The ring?” he clarifies.

“Yeah.” There’s a pause on the other line. Gerard wonders if Frank’s fallen back to toying with the ring the way he used to, sucking it into his mouth to wrap his tongue around the warmed metal. “I’m getting old. I dunno. I don’t want it to seem like I’m, you know, chasing my glory days or whatever.”

Gerard’s first instinct is to protest. Frank isn’t old. He’s still in his thirties! But he knows what Frank means.

So he takes his time with the question. Frank knows him well and lets him think.

“I think,” says Gerard slowly, “that that’s the wrong question. You’ve always just been you, Frank. That’s what people like about you. And even if the get things wrong, or misconstrue something, you don’t need to apologize for loving the things you love.”

“Ah.” There’s a smile in Franks voice again as he sighs. “The old ‘just be yourself’ trick, huh? How very Disney channel, Gee. Gotta save that bit up for my kids.”

The tension breaks. Gerard laughs. “Be sure to tell them you learned it all from me.”

“Oh, please!”

They don’t talk for long, but the updates come quick. Achievements of the kids, funny stories about their wives, work stuff, nothing heavy. Gerard carefully folds away the piece of him that wants to hoard this conversation to himself, wandering out of his office to join his family in the kitchen. Frank’s assaulted with enthusiastic greetings, before Gerard finally ducks out again, taking the phone off speaker and pressing it to his ear.

“Hey, Frank?”

Frank halts mid story about his backyard friends and fauna. “What’s up?”

Gerard really wishes phones still had cords so he had something to twirl with his fingers.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember,” he says softly, hearing his family laugh in the other room. He knows this doesn’t make a lot of sense. He isn’t surprised when Frank sighs.

“You weren’t there,” Frank says.

“I know,” says Gerard. “I’m sorry for that too.”

See, it’s the big problems Gerard knows how to work through best. He knows Frank knows what he’s talking about. He can practically see him chewing it over in his head.

“I know you are,” Frank says finally. He says this neutrally. It’s not forgiveness—not really—but it’s a start. Gerard breathes out.

“Hey, Gerard?”

Gerard wasn’t expecting anything more. He straightens up.

“Yeah?”

Frank smiles when he talk, “You don’t need to apologize for loving things either.”

The call ends. Gerard’s still processing when his phone vibrates. It’s a selfie of Frank, the smirking one Gerard’s already ogled over, sent directly to his personal messages.

Gerard smiles. Yeah, Frankie gets it. They’re going to be okay.

He saves the picture to his phone and turns back to be with his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Reminder that you can always find me on tumblr @[pyrchance](https://pyrchance.tumblr.com)! That's how this particular drabble thing got written.


End file.
